Tag Archives: tarpaulin

Continuing with my recent post about some of the very critical things we just cannot do without when hiking in the wild places, is shelter.

I once read somewhere that the number 3 quantifies a whole range of actions that wilderness users are always up against. For example, a person can supposedly live without air for a max of 3 minutes, without shelter for 3 hours, without water for 3 days and without food for 3 weeks. So shelter is the second most important thing that governs how long we can survive in the open.

And of course, if hiking in extreme cold, I wouldn’t like to bet that I’d last even 3 hours….I well remember being caught out in the extreme cold in Ontario once, when the temperature was -25C and with the wind chill factor added to that, it was -35C…yes, -35C! At that temperature, any exposed skin freezes solid within seconds.

So anyway, shelter, and knowing how to construct it with whatever is available, is of paramount importance.

Here, I’m going to talk about a very simple, but potentially life-saving shelter that can be constructed quite quickly and will keep you safe and snug for many days, until such a time when you decide to move on or can construct a more solid version.

This kind of shelter relies on us finding a fallen tree, under which all that needs to be done is to gather a few long branches, lay them at an angle with one end resting on the tree or log and the other end on the ground.

ONce those branches are in place, the gaps between them are covered up with smaller branches, moss or twigs — if these have leaves on, so much the better as they keep the rain out and act as insulation, too.

Again, depending on your location, you can use a pile of leaves for floor insulation as well, or if no leaves, then smaller branches or dry moss will do just as well. The reason for this is that the worst you can do having made your shelter, is to lie on the bare floor. Doing that will cause loss of body heat, which is the last the thing you need in a life-threatening situation.

One final idea is to keep a small fire going in front of the entrance to your shelter. Just having a fire going will be enough to keep you warm and dry and also allowing you to prepare your meals. The heat from the fire will be reflected to an extent into the shelter, keeping that dry, too. The simple diagram below shows how to go about building this shelter.

If you happen to be carrying a tarpaulin and rope with you, then your task is so much easier. All you have to do is tie the rope between two trees and simply throw the tarpaulin over the rope and put some rocks or weights to hold it down at the edges. Easy as that!

There are as many variations on this theme as you can imagine, but the main point is that having a shelter will do wonders for your morale, aside of keeping you warm.